


What is Love? (aka Bokuto’s Love Tour™)

by thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Best Friends, College, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, Multi, Post-Canon, SO FLUFFY, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Volleyball Dorks in Love, bokuto handles feelings exactly the way youd expect, bokutos emo mode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 12:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo/pseuds/thegirlwiththedeathlyhallowstattoo
Summary: Bokuto is almost done with college and can't figure out for the life of him what the state of his love life is, so he calls in outside opinions.





	What is Love? (aka Bokuto’s Love Tour™)

Bokuto had never really thought about love. At least not on purpose. People around him always talked about falling in love and he didn’t understand. Falling sounded violent like he was crashing down to Earth and hurting himself spectacularly, which he sometimes felt like at volleyball but his heart had never felt like that. When he was happy he felt light as a feather and filled to the brim, like he could jump so high he was flying. When he was mad he felt hot and prickly with bubbling in his stomach like when he went into emo mode. He knew what his emotions were and how to tell when he was feeling them, but for some reason he had never been able to place love, so he didn’t pay attention to it. It’s not like he needed to anyway, since he was perfectly happy in life, playing lots of volleyball and having fun with his friends, but as he got older he really wanted to know what it was like to be in love, and if it was really as good as everyone said.  
Bokuto’s third year at university was now coming to a close, and he had been thinking for a while now that to be considered a functioning adult, he should get a solid grasp on this whole feeling love thing. He was finally spurred into action one day when he looked at Akaashi sitting next to him on the couch as they watched a scary movie, and saw him as his best friend, the man who had followed him to the city to be his setter once again, and the person he could always go to, all at once. Something in his heart gave him a gentle nudge, and so the next day was the day he set out on his quest to discover what love felt like and if maybe he was already feeling it without knowing it.  
~~~~~~  
He decided to start with his roommate because even if he laughed at him, he was the most trustworthy person Bokuto knew. So, he knocked on Kuroo’s door and then entered without waiting for a response. Kuroo looked up from his computer and raised an eyebrow at him, probably in reference to the fact that he was laying in bed in his underwear.  
“Oh calm down you hardly ever wear clothes anyway,” Bokuto said in response to the look.  
Kuroo chuckled “Yeah but I’m Skyping Kenma, so who knows what state of undress I could have been in when you busted my door down.”  
“Hey.” came Kenma’s voice out of the laptop, calm as always but maybe a little higher pitched that usual, “We don’t do sexy stuff on Skype you just like to show off so you take your shirt off.”  
With that Kuroo blushed and hurriedly said goodbye to his boyfriend, closing his computer and putting it aside. He then sat up and on his bed and patted next to him for Bokuto to sit.  
“You didn’t even laugh when Kenma was making fun of me, are you ok? Do you need to talk?” Kuroo asked  
That was why Bokuto had come to him first. For all his shit eating grins and wisecracks, Kuroo was a good friend that read him like a book. He sat down on the bed and leaned his elbows on his knees, fiddling with his sleeve nervously. He finally took took a deep breath and closed his eyes before saying what was on his mind.  
“Kuroo, what do you think love is? Like, what does it feel like? And like, how do you, you know, know, when you feel it?”  
Kuroo smiled at his roommate’s lack of eloquence and leaned back on his hands, humming as he thought. After a dense moment of waiting, Kuroo seemed to has gathered his thoughts and answered.  
“Love is the feeling of being wanted back by the person you want to be around most, to me at least. Like, when Ken calls me, even though I know he could be playing video games, my heart feels like it’s gonna freakin explode. In a good way, though.” He looked around the room as if searching for the right thing to say, and then seemed to remember something, grinning like he couldn’t help himself.  
“Bro, I’m telling you it’s just like when we finally get to see each other it makes the time apart worth it when I get to see in his eyes that he missed me. And I know he only looks that way at me.”  
“Ha, gay.” Bokuto said softly with a smile, thinking of how seeing Akaashi at practice always managed to lift a weight from his chest he didn’t even know was there.  
“Says the idiot who came out to me last year,” Kuroo shot back, laughing. “Is there a specific reason you’re asking?”  
Bokuto waved his hand airily at the question, as if it wasn’t important. “Just trying to, uh, figure stuff out, man,” he said shiftily.  
“Ah, so you finally figured out that you probably love Akaashi,” Kuroo said, not in a taunting way, but gently, like he was proud of him.  
Bokuto threw his head back in defeat and whined “I hate how you knock me down when I’m on an emotional voyage Kuroo, I’m moving out,” over his shoulder as he closed the apartment door to continue his mission.  
~~~~~~~~~  
Coincidently, the apartment next door was full of girls from Karasuno, which was a school he was very familiar with, and this apartment just so happened to include a certain ex-manager of the volleyball team. Yachi answered the door, looking nervous as always, but smiled when she saw who it was.  
“Bokuto! I haven’t seen you in a bit, come in! Do you want some tea?”  
She went about fussing over him and trying to be a good hostess until eventually Bokuto was settled in his favorite bean bag chair with a cup of tea and some homemade cookies. He was trying to remember why he didn’t come here more, because it was nice when Yachi fawned over him, when she shook him from his wondering.  
“Okay hun, now what can I do for you?” she asked as she blew on her own tea. Another thing Bokuto liked about her was, even though she was two years younger than him, she kind of reminded him of his mom, and she gave almost as good of advice.  
“Well Yachan I was just wondering, since I know you told me that you and Tanaka have been together for a good while, could you tell me maybe what love is to you?”  
He felt very small and vulnerable curled up in his chair nibbling on cookies, but Yachi was good company when he was unsure so he wasn’t worried that she would know what to say.  
She gave him a small and knowing smile before putting her cup down and resting her chin on her hands.  
“Well, with Ryu it feels like, I guess I would say security. But it’s more than that like, besides just that he makes me feel safe, I think he’s the coolest person in the world, and even though I don’t always understand why, I know he thinks the same of me. I don’t know if that helps you, it’s probably kind of dumb”  
By the time she finished talking she was speaking very quietly and blushing bright red. Bokuto couldn’t help but smile because he thought she was a person who absolutely deserved to be happy.  
“I don’t think that’s stupid at all. You honestly sound like, way smarter than Kuroo, but it’s not like that’s hard,” Bokuto assured her.  
Yachi’s words made him remember how Akaashi always gave him genuine and thought out compliments, even when they weren’t at volleyball and he didn’t have to, and how those compliments made him feel like he was flying because he thought so highly of Akaashi.  
Yachi patted his hand “Bokuto dear, if you don’t mind me asking, how are you feeling about all this love talk?”  
“I think I’m starting to figure things out. Thank you for your help Yachan, I couldn’t ask for a better neighbor.” He replied  
Yachi tilted her head and looked at him confused “But you hate my roommates because they made fun of you saying ‘hey hey hey’ Bokuto”  
“Oh right” he said, finally remembering why he didn’t go next door so often. “Well then I think I’m gonna go before they get home. Please come visit any time!”  
She just chuckled and walked him out, closing the door behind him.  
~~~~~~~~~~  
There were two more stops on Bokuto’s Love Tour™ (that’s what he was calling it in his head) and the first of those was just a phone call. So he walked out into the night and sat on the wall outside the apartment building  
After just one ring his should-be rival but in-reality good friend answered the phone.  
“Hello” said the groggy voice on the other end.  
“Daichi! Hey dude can I ask you a quick question? Wait were you asleep? Man it’s like eleven pm we’re in college. We’re going out after the next time we play each other you’re so boring.”  
He heard shuffling that sounded like he was sitting up before Daichi responded “Honest as always Bokuto, what did you need?” he deadpanned.  
“Um, well sorry to wake you up,” Bokuto started sheepishly, “But I’m just kinda asking everyone what they think love is, and I figured you’d know.”  
Daichi went silent for a moment before saying “That’s deep man.”  
More silence  
“AND??” Bokuto exploded.  
“And I don’t know. I know that love makes you feel...like you’d do anything for them I guess. That no matter how much you don’t want to do something you would do it just to see them smile, or something like tha-” Daichi was cut off and more shuffling noises came from the phone.  
“Oh my goodness you’re adorable but useless” Bokuto heard in the background of the call and then, more clearly, “Hi Boku, it’s Suga. What do you need help with?”  
“I asked Daichi what love was,” Bokuto muttered, he didn’t know Sugawara as well and even though he knew he was smart with this stuff he was embarrassed to ask him this. On top of that he was flustered because all he could think of was how Akaashi didn’t need to be asked twice to re-dye the grey in Bokuto’s hair, even though he knew he hated it. And even though he complained the whole time he was gentle and careful, always looking proud as he showed Bokuto the results.  
“Oh my,” Sugawara said, and Bokuto could hear a smile in his voice, “Well I would agree with Daichi I suppose, but I would also say that I feel most in love with him when he annoys me beyond belief.”  
“Hey!” was exclaimed in the distance but was shushed quickly.  
“Because even when I’m irritated and even sometimes want to strangle him, I would be so much more upset if I couldn’t be with him.” Sugawara finished  
“Oh,” Bokuto heard softly in the background.  
“Oh,” Bokuto repeated, and yet another memory entered his head.  
It had happened years ago when they were still in high Akaashi had been pissed off at Bokuto for not studying enough, once again, telling him that they’d never be able to go to college together if he continued like that. Later, after a practice match, Bokuto had been furious with Akaashi for not having practiced their new attack enough, telling him they’d never get scouted as a pair if they couldn’t get it. Of course they both ended up being wrong but they had stayed mad for days. However, on that bus ride home they still sat next to each other, and slept on each other’s shoulders, because they seemed to agree unspokenly know that however mad they were, they should not be apart.  
“Boku?” Sugawara’s voice pulled him back to reality and he realized that his hand holding his phone had fallen into his lap as he reminisced.  
“Yeah I’m still here.” He pulled his phone back up to his ear. “Thank you so much guys. I’m one step closer to being sure of myself.”  
“Call us anytime you need.” Daichi said with a yawn.  
“Yeah, you guys are dads of the year thanks,” Bokuto snickered and hung up before Daichi could yell at him for that.  
With one more stop to go he called up the people that he had left for last because their weird-ass relationship must be able to give him some last minute insight.  
He picked up the phone and made one more call.  
“Hinata? Hi it’s me. Are you guys free to meet for a bit?”  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bokuto, Hinata, and Kageyama sat in the booth at the on-campus 24 hour diner, Bokuto on one side, facing Hinata and Kageyama.  
“So I assume there’s a specific reason you wanted to meet with the two of us together at midnight?” Kageyama asked. He wasn’t so full of pride anymore, and he was calm in a way that balanced Hinata rather than provoke him.  
Bokuto munched on the rice balls he’d ordered as a late night snack for him and as payment for them for meeting him. “I just wanted to know how you guys knew you loved each other?” he asked, unable to be embarrassed asking that question anymore after asking it so many times that day.  
Hinata and Kageyama looked at each other in surprise, and then smiled softly at each other. Hinata eyes lit up and he found his words first.  
“It’s like that feeling of whoosh! in you chest when you think of them and like zoom! with your feelings on overdrive and when you kiss them, oh man it’s like...wapow!!” Hinata said all in one breath, complete with hand motions.  
Kageyama slung and arm around Hinata’s shoulders and hid a smile in his hair while he talked. When Hinata was finished he turned to Bokuto and smiled sympathetically before speaking.  
“You probably don’t understand that at all, but in my humble opinion, you don’t have to. Because when you’re in love you’ll just know. And if you’re asking us this, you probably already know. And then you can explain it in a way no one else will understand too. And you don’t have to listen to me because the only person I’ve ever loved is this dumbass, but if it’s who I think it is you’ve probably known for a while.” Hinata nodded and smiled as Kageyama spoke, kissing him on the cheek in response to the dumbass comment.  
Bokuto looked up at them, and stared at the couple, mouth agape for a moment before he found his voice.  
“You’re...right,” he said, and then immediately threw some money down on the table to cover the food and sprinted out the door, leaving a grinning couple in his wake.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Ten minutes later he was standing outside Akaashi’s dorm room door, frozen in fear of what he was about to do. One of the residents of the floor had let him in because because everyone recognized him as the RA’s teammate and best friend. Bokuto summoned all of his courage and banged on the door with all his might. He held his breath as he heard footsteps coming towards the door and as it swung open, he let out a small gasp. Now that he had admitted to himself that he was in love with this man he couldn’t deny that he loved every part of him.  
Akaashi was standing there in one of Bokuto’s t-shirts and some old and fraying shorts, rubbing his eyes in response to the light, and Bokuto couldn’t have changed his mind at that point if he wanted to.  
“Kota, it’s super late. What are you-”  
“AKAASHI I LOVE YOU.” Bokuto cut him off, unable to keep it in any longer.  
“W-what did you say?” Akaashi stuttered, turning bright red.  
Bokuto cleared his throat and took a deep breath, collecting himself before he spoke, uncharacteristically softly, “Keiji, I’ve asked a lot of people what love is, but in the end I realized, I know what love is. It’s what I feel about you.”  
Bokuto looked at the floor and shuffled his feet, waiting for a response, not wanting to be too hopeful. He felt a finger under his chin lift his gaze so that he was looking into Akaashi’s eyes, and it was so intense it almost burned. A second later there were lips on his. Akaashi’s lips were soft and warm and Bokuto had never realized it before but they were they best feeling in the world. All too soon he pulled away and they opened their eyes, both slightly dazed.  
“Wapow.” Bokuto breathed out, once he remembered to breathe again.  
“What was that?” Akaashi asked, smirking slightly.  
It was Bokuto’s turn turn red then. “Nothing,” he muttered.  
Akaashi pulled Botuko into his room, and as they cuddled and kissed until they fell asleep, Bokuto realized that falling in love was a gentle fall, with a soft landing, and really did feel just like being with Akaashi Keiji.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever Haikyuu fic!! Please let me know what you think! I had so much fun writing for these boys


End file.
